Qualcomm delivers carrier grade home wireless mesh networking

Qualcomm Technologies Expands Mesh Networking Leadership to Broadband Carriers and Unveils New Video-Over-Mesh Features to Optimize Video Delivery Through Home Wi-Fi Networksâ€

Oct 24, 2017 | SAN DIEGO

Today at Broadband World Forum 2017 , Qualcomm Incorporated (NASDAQ: QCOM) through its subsidiary, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., announced it is working with leading manufacturers to accelerate mesh network deployments by broadband service providers, and delivering new carrier-class video features. With a growing slate of carrier customers, the company is introducing the Qualcomm® Video-Over-Mesh features, the industry's first announced end-to-end video over wireless (VoW) solution that optimizes the delivery of video over mesh networks.

“Qualcomm Technologies has been a driving force behind the Mesh Networking movement, and is now raising the bar by addressing the unique challenges of broadband carriers and their customers, including distributing video over mesh networks and enabling virtually seamless content across several screens, in addition to the televisions in the home,” said Irvind Ghai, vice president, product management, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. “Qualcomm Technologies provides service providers with a mesh Wi-Fi solution that revolutionizes whole-home connectivity, blanketing coverage across corners and floors. This provides the flexibility for carriers to deploy advanced video services through traditional wireless gateways and set-top-boxes or through mesh architectures, so that consumers can enjoy a resilient network that supports their growing entertainment demands while on the move in the home.”

Qualcomm Technologies is deeply engaged with several OEMs – including Acelink, Alpha Networks, Askey, Hitron, Sercomm, Technicolor and WNC – to develop carrier mesh solutions based on the Qualcomm® Mesh Networking Platform, which will be introduced to consumers in 2018. Qualcomm Technologies is also heavily engaged with broadband carriers through a number of collaborations with leading service and cloud-providers, including Plume Design, Inc., the pioneer of Adaptive WiFi™. Qualcomm Technologies and Plume are working together on two turn-key Wi-Fi hardware reference designs, delivering virtually corner-to-corner coverage and performance, cloud management capabilities, and the intelligence and insights carriers need to manage their vast and complex networks. Plume’s cloud-based control and management solution is based on the Mesh Networking platform.

“A reliable, managed, and optimized whole-home Wi-Fi network is the only solution to the ‘last-meter problem’ faced by the carriers,” said Fahri Diner, chief executive officer, co-founder, Plume. “Our relationship with Qualcomm Technologies is accelerating the deployment of carrier grade home Wi-Fi at carrier scale.”

As home networks continue to become crowded with multiple devices streaming video and other high-bandwidth activities throughout the house, carriers will be challenged to manage network capacity to reduce latency, buffering and dropped packets. These problems become even more complex in a mesh network where users expect flawless streaming as they may move from one node to another. The Video-Over-Mesh features help ensure high-quality, glitch-free video in every corner of the home – even in mesh Wi-Fi systems with multiple nodes. Its advanced software features deliver less than 40ms of latency and are optimized for near lossless video delivery in high path loss conditions. The features also offer Multi-User MIMO and advanced video stream protection to enable multiple HD and UHD video streams to run simultaneously.

The new Video-Over-Mesh features can be used across Qualcomm Technologies’ Wave-2 801.11ac portfolio, which includes the QCA998x and IPQ806x for broadband gateways, the QCA6174 and QCA998x for set-top boxes and extenders, and the IPQ401x for mesh network systems, making Qualcomm Technologies the first company to introduce enhancements that make video more reliable on mesh networks.